Trump Literally Said He’s Gutting Dodd-Frank to Help His Buddies

He’s selling off the remains of America to Wal-Mart, JPMorgan, Blackstone, and Disney

On Friday morning, just hours before signing an executive order that laid the groundwork for gutting Dodd-Frank (the most comprehensive Wall Street regulations since the post-Depression Glass-Stegall Act), Donald Trump sat down for a meeting with a handful of billionaire business owners. It was Trump’s first meeting with his business council, which includes Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon and JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon.

“There’s nobody better to tell me about Dodd-Frank than Jamie,” Trump said. Jamie’s bank, JPMorgan, took a slight hit to their bottom line after the passage of Dodd-Frank, which includes protections that stop banks from gambling with depositors’ money and prevent the kind of secret hedge fund trading that played a huge role in driving the 2008 recession.

Trump went on to say this: “We expect to cut a lot of Dodd-Frank because frankly I have so many people, friends of mine, who have nice businesses, they can’t borrow money because the banks just won’t let them because of the rules and regulations of Dodd-Frank.” Uhh…

Two hours later, Trump signed his executive order. It directs the Treasury Department to send him a report evaluating whether Dodd-Frank follows “the core principles of his administration.”

Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Treasury Department is Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs hedge fund manager. So that’s comforting.